Imagine the scene it’s a Monday morning and it’s the 1st day of the 1 week Intensive ‘Train to be a Personal Stylist’ course and my new delegates are anxiously waiting to learn more about the agenda for their upcoming week. Over a cup of coffee I inform them that today/Monday they will learn everything they need to know about Personal Shopping, Tuesday, Wardrobe Styling and Wednesday Colour Analysis. I keep emphasising these are the three essential skills that every (good) Personal stylist requires.
I then tell them how I have no doubt that by the end of these 3 (intensive) days they will have all the skills they need to style anybody, of any age, lifestyle and size… I can see they are starting to relax and are actually looking forward to getting started and that is when I drop it on them, that on day 4 they will actually be having their own real life client, that’s right a women who will they will meet for the first time, for whom they will do a mini wardrobe styling session, a colour analysis session and wait for it… actually take them shopping, all on the same day and more importantly without me being there to hold their hand!
Well you can imagine the sheer dread that’s written all over their faces, I’m sure they are thinking of ways to not only get out of it but are also now thinking what an awful decision they made and are looking for the nearest exit! This is when I tell them to relax and put their trust me, reassuring them, that I am so confident in our training course, I have 100% faith they will succeed and that no delegate to date has ever failed!
So why do all my Intensive Training delegates succeed? I believe it’s for 3 reasons; firstly the training is excellent (even if I do say so myself); secondly it’s because they’ve immersed themselves for 3 consecutive (intensive) days hence they are living and breathing everything to do with styling and each day the knowledge and the unique formula I teach is sinking in, I can almost predict when the ‘aha’ moments will occur! Finally I believe it’s because I’m literally pushing them in at the deep end. You see you can have all the knowledge and theory in your head BUT until you actually do something or rather feel it, it simply can’t sink into the subconscious mind, it’s only when it’s in there that personal styling can become a habit/ second nature and becomes less scary…. It’s like riding a bike, learning to swim or driving a car, just reading a manual on how to do it it’s simply not enough! So my theory is: why wait?
Don’t get me wrong on day 4 when I set my delegates free with their client, I’m anxiously sitting by the phone just in case something does go wrong but you know what it never does! Instead when I meet them post the shopping for a glass of wine I can see how elated the client is with her new clothes but also I can see how excited and pleased my delegate is to receive the gratitude and praise for her work, it’s always a special moment and one that leaves me feeling super proud.
The next day whilst my Intensive Training delegate is having her photo-shoot, getting pampered; looking and most importantly feeling like a real personal stylist she is full of confidence and excitement and probably in disbelief at how far she has come in just one week…